FCC Media Ownership Vote Delayed to Study Minority Impact

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Communications
Commission won’t vote on changes to U.S. media ownership rules
until an outside group studies effects on minority broadcasters,
the agency’s chairman said today.

The study will take “several weeks,” followed by public
comment and a commission vote, Chairman Julius Genachowski said
in a statement. Commissioner Robert McDowell, the senior
Republican on the agency, said in an e-mailed statement he wants
to have a vote by summer.

The Washington-based Minority Media and Telecommunications
Council, a non-profit group dedicated to equal opportunity in
the mass media, will do the study, “a sensible approach to
moving forward,’ Genachowski said.

Genachowski’s proposal, issued in December 2011, has been
stalled amid partisan tension. Agency Republicans say it doesn’t
go far enough to loosen restrictions including the ban on owners
of daily newspapers holding nearby broadcast stations, and
agency Democrats say the rules shouldn’t be changed before
effects on minority ownership are studied.